In a recession, leaders are at risk of ignoring effective behaviour and reverting to inappropriate ‘default’ positions. Catherine Sandler explains how they can avoid the traps and stay in charge.
As the British economy slides further into recession, business leaders are experiencing unprecedented pressure. Many are already presiding over strategic about-turns, radical restructuring and significant staff cuts. Lots of UK business leaders today were young high potentials in the previous recession. They will face a steep learning curve if they are to succeed in the new business environment.
A key determinant of success will be leaders’ capacity to manage their own emotions and behaviour in the face of exceptional stress. A good coach can play a critical role in enabling them to remain their most resourceful, skilful and emotionally intelligent. If this is to happen, the coach must understand the dynamics affecting leaders under pressure.
The suddenness and severity of the economic downturn has created great uncertainty and anxiety within the population as a whole and a widespread sense of real or threatened loss, including loss of confidence in the future.
Leaders are not immune to these feelings – in fact, they are often particularly affected by them. They carry a heavy burden of responsibility and their performance is exposed to far closer public scrutiny than that of less senior employees.
Frequently, the effect of these pressures on leaders is to trigger the fight-or-flight reflex. This is when the most primitive part of the brain reacts to a perceived threat by producing adrenaline and priming the individual to respond aggressively or to run away. In practice, leaders become vulnerable to falling into one of two behavioural traps in a crisis.
Don’t fight it
The first is when leaders unconsciously attempt to “fight” the crisis by leaping into action in a manic, rather than considered, way. They may throw themselves into the immediate tasks at hand, forgetting that their role is to set the direction of their business while delivering results through others. They may put huge pressure on their team, focusing on short-term goals such as achieving quarterly figures. This is likely to be at the expense of long-term thinking on the one hand and people on the other.
The CEO of a division of an investment bank recently found himself drawn into this unhelpful fight dynamic. A serious threat to the survival of his part of the organisation led this leader to abandon his customary courteous leadership style and switch into “command and control mode” – issuing orders, micro-managing direct reports and getting sucked into operational detail. As conditions worsened, he became increasingly stressed, subjecting his team to angry, critical outbursts. Morale hit rock bottom.
Don’t deny it
The second trap is when leaders unconsciously “take flight” from the crisis. This can take several forms but always involves an element of denial. Leaders may fail to take appropriate and timely action in the face of the new economic reality. They may also withdraw from the workforce, failing to address its needs.
Alternatively, they may focus too hard on reassuring staff at the expense of running the business. A striking example of this involved the managing director of a professional services firm. Successful and inspiring during times of growth, she had excellent people skills and was deeply committed to the highly supportive culture of the business.
However, faced with significant loss of market in one division of the firm, she refused to consider job cuts, which her senior colleagues saw as inevitable, focusing instead on a new project in a different area. As she continued to discount the seriousness of the situation, profits fell and serious doubts were raised about her capacity to continue in her leadership role.
Stay focused
The dysfunctional behaviours that these leaders displayed in the grip of fight or flight represented a reversion – in each case – to less skilful and sophisticated ways of getting things done than they would usually display.
They reflect a tendency for the more mature and nuanced psychological and behavioural patterns that we develop over the years to slip away in an emergency or a highly stressful situation. Thus a task-focused leader who has learnt the importance of building and maintaining good relationships reverted to “tell mode” under pressure, neglecting the feelings of others.
Similarly, the people-focused leader who has learnt to confront difficult interpersonal situations, reverted to avoiding tough conversations when stressed. This is where skilled coaches make a crucial difference. First, they can help leaders to understand their default positions and what triggers them. Second, they can help them manage their emotions, moods and behaviour under pressure. Together, these capacities will enable leaders to anticipate and avoid their characteristic behavioural traps and so remain effective, resourceful and skilled in a crisis1.
A recent example of how coaching can help was provided by the director of a manufacturing unit who was unexpectedly tasked with announcing redundancies. His natural approach to leadership was task focused, logical and pragmatic. He had sought coaching in order to develop his repertoire of influencing styles and had successfully built more emotional connection into his relationships with staff.
However, under the pressure of this task, he reverted to his earlier style and prepared a message for the workforce that was clear and informative, but conveyed no sense of warmth or the emotion he felt at having to lay off valued colleagues.
After a telephone review with his coach, this leader took a different approach. At a “town hall” meeting the following day, he found an authentic way to share his sadness at the redundancies and to express how much he had valued these colleagues’ contribution. The feedback was extremely positive and paved the way for the organisation to handle a difficult transition well.
Look after yourself
Helping leaders to manage their workloads and to take care of their own needs is another important area in which coaching can prove invaluable. Many leaders respond to additional pressures and uncertainties by working excessive hours and blurring the distinction between “urgent” and “important”.
Adequate sleep, a healthy diet, regular exercise, time for family and opportunities to relax can become harder to achieve during these times of heightened pressure. The coach should constantly remind leaders that neglecting their own physical and emotional needs will leave them significantly less able to deliver the sustained, optimal performance that their organisation requires2.
A recent example of this activity took place when an experienced coach was so concerned at the physical appearance – and evidence of excessive use of alcohol – in a senior client that she urged him to see a doctor without delay. Somewhat shocked by her reaction, this leader saw his GP who diagnosed worryingly high blood pressure and referred him to a specialist for urgent treatment.
A crucial role
With the help of their coach, leaders must set clear priorities – aiming to spend their time doing what only they can do. One of these priorities must be regular “stop and think” time, something that is especially hard to achieve in the inevitable maelstrom of task-related activity that comes with an economic downturn.
Coaching often provides an essential element of this reflection. The executive coach can play a crucial role in turbulent times, helping leaders to resist fight or flight, avoid their default positions and manage key tasks and relationships effectively (including taking care of their own needs).
As well as providing insight, challenge and support, the skilled and experienced coach can model the consistently grounded, emotionally intelligent and skilful behaviour that leaders must achieve if they are to navigate their organisations through the storm of the recession. K
References
1 D Goleman, R Boyatzis and A McKee, “Primal leadership: the hidden driver of great performance”, in Harvard Business Review, December 2001.
2 J Loehr and T Schwartz, “The making of a corporate athlete”, in Harvard Business Review, January 2001.
About the author
Catherine Sandler of Sandler Lanz has nearly 20 years’ consulting experience, working extensively in leadership development, group dynamics, team-building and the management of organisational change and conflict. Since 1997, she has specialised in coaching business leaders and top teams, primarily at board and director level. Her teaching engagements include a long association with the London Business School, Insead and the Tavistock Clinic.
catherine.sandler@sandlerlanz.com
www.sandlerlanz.com